level_main_16-09_beg

No... no...

Argh!

The young woman falls on the ground before your eyes, a black spear 'growing' out of her body.

Next to her body, a man is flailing with his legs, trying to push himself away from this dangerous place.

M-Monster...!

Black is closing in. Black, black, black, everything is black, except for bright-red blood. You cannot even tell if you are facing something that is living or not.

Do not fear—not one step back!

Stand up, if you still have strength—

Ahh!!

The black steps through the bodies, some of whom were miners, some of whom were guards, and some of whom were just ordinary Ursines.

The constant screams make it very clear that, whether you turn to run or not, the spears appearing out of thin air will catch you.

You can only watch as the spears continue to rise from the ground, impaling body after body, threatening to blanket the entire ground.

Suddenly, the spears remove themselves from the mountain of corpses, forming a longsword in the hand of the black shadow.

The entity raises its sword and points it toward you, speaking in an indistinguishable voice.

You would die standing.

No... I'm not going to die...

I'm not going to die here.

Hope. It's a good thing.

But futile.

Is that...?

Rankin! We're here to help!

Rankin—

You—Renat?

We're here to help!

You're here! You're here to help me! My comrades, you're here—

We'll fight side-by-side, just like old times!

Just like old times!

Surround him! Just like old times! One falls, another takes his place!

Follow me!

Fool...

You feel the heat coming from behind you, like a burning fire that spreads all over you. It makes your blood run hot, and your eyes wide and clear. They shout your name and push you forward.

In the embrace of solidarity, you leap and take aim at what seems to be the thorax of the black entity—

And impale it.

—Death—

Ha...

There is no sound of blood dripping, no convulsion.

Only the resistance of the blade growing lesser and lesser, until it disappears altogether.

I see... I see...

...Gabrielus—

As the last syllable leaves its mouth, the uniform propped up by the shadow goes limp and stops resisting.

You have put an end to the monster, with courage, with determination, with heart.

With the support of 'friends' who never existed.

*pant*... *pant*...

Your hands are heavy. Where are you?

'—He's down. He's down!'

...Who?

'Rankin, you—we, we killed—'

'We killed him!'

Killed who? Black... snow...

Not enough. One obstacle dead and gone, but the snow is everywhere, abominable snow...

The snow will not stop.

'Rankin? Rankin! What do we do now?'

'Rankin—'

Rankin!

I am...

Rankin! Rankin!

The crowd rushes toward you like the tide. They raise you up, and they pull you back down. You have felt this sense of weightlessness before.

The crowd shouts, the crowd yells. Someone who should not have been here shouts your name in the deafening echoes.

—Rankin—

You close your eyes and go back into the forest with his words. A border garrison unit, a one-way mission.

You are not there.

Won...

We won.

As you rise and fall, you look towards the black dust in the distance, which has yet to fully disperse.

Black smoke seeps out from every hole and gap in the uniform, like countless tiny tentacles, greedily wrapping and covering it, until it is completely hidden.

Under the black smoke, the uniform once again takes human shape, as though—

As though he never died.